Lately, I’ve begun using the video function on Instagram to shoot some quick, informal videos in my garden. I’ve stayed away from video in the past because of the work involved in shooting, editing, etc. But the other day as I was in my garden cleaning up a bed, it suddenly occurred to me that I could let go of all of that and just shoot something simple. And so I did. You can follow along in real time by subscribing to my social media accounts, but I also plan to post them here now and again.

Here are the first two:

A video posted by Gayla Trail (@yougrowgirl) on Sep 19, 2016 at 3:46pm PDT

A little ditty about ‘Egyptian Walking’ onion (Allium cepa).

I’ve been singing the praises of ‘Egyptian Walking’ onion for many years. Eons ago, someone (I no longer recall who), gave me a handful of bulbils. Maybe it was someone at my now defunct community garden plot or at a Seedy Saturday event… my memory no longer serves. What I do know is that some bulbils were planted in my plot and they grew. And in the years that followed they flourished and multiplied. Back then I used to go to the effort of planting each one individually exactly where I wanted it. By the following season they had moved themselves everywhere and I found that I liked the look of their medusa-like topset peering out from between other plants in the garden, so I let them do their thing. In exchange I found myself with more onions than I could use and with zero effort or financial input. Free onions into infinity!

When I moved to my current location I tossed a bunch into the garden and they took off. These days I do control their location somewhat in that I often pull the topsets off when they mature and hang them out of the way until I am ready to toss them into empty spaces as I pull out cucumber, tomato, and squash plants towards the end of the season. I think of them as space holders. However, it isn’t uncommon for me to lazily toss a handful into the garden from my kitchen door. Wherever they fall, is where they grow and I’m fine with that.

Come spring they are one of the first edibles available for harvest.

A video posted by Gayla Trail (@yougrowgirl) on Sep 21, 2016 at 9:41am PDT

Radishes are so much more than their roots

This year was the driest on record. To make matters worse, we seemed to jump from winter straight into summer. Spring lasted all of five minutes. Few of the radishes I planted came to fruition as crunchy, juicy roots. Never mind, I tend to prefer their leafy greens to the roots. I left many of my unsuccessful radish plants in and they provided me with greens and flowers to sauté and a wealth of crunchy, fresh seedpods to eat or pickle. Now that we’re headed into fall, some of the mature seeds will have dropped and sprouted on their own and I have plenty of seed to plant.